Page:Discovery and Decipherment of the Trilingual Cuneiform Inscriptions.djvu/347

318 family, and that it bears a (tlose resemblance to the lanji^uage now spoken by the Finns. ^

Tie was the first to treat the uTanmiar systematically. He i)inte(l out with sufficient accuracy the case-endinirs of nouns,- and explained that, in conmion with Finnisli, they distinguislied more cases than the Indo-European languages, such as the allatiye and the locatiye. He showed that there was no distinction of gender, and that the adjectiyes had the same case-endings as the nouns. He exi)lained that the ])lural was formed by the addition oi jni (which, howeyer, ought to haye been />, pp., or //>), and that the case-ending was suffixed to it. He distinguished tlu^ pronouns with tolerable cor- rectness, and showed their relationship to the Tartar languages. He also proyed that the analogies with th(\se laniiuatres are more obyious in the verb than in the other parts of s])eech.

He has giyen an admirable transcri])t of the Median text of th(^ Behistun inscription in eight i)lates, accom- panied l)y a transliteration that shows a n^narkable im- proy(Mnent on all previous efforts, though of course it has since underu'ouc^ consideral)l(Milteratioii. His trans- lation follows the rendering' of the Persian colunni made by Itawlinson, and has received little altei'ation from later scholars. He brought his (^ssav to a close by uiviuir the Median trati'^literation and translation of the remaining inscri})tioiis, including two that were lately found ])y Mr. Loftus at Susa, and which now appear for the first time. The uniliniz'ual at rei-s(^])olis was at IciiLitli intclliii'iblv rendered. W(\stcrL!'aar(l had made out its general pur[)ort ; but even this imj)erfect result

' M. ]»|)t'rt claims to have sujiuvstrd In 1847 that .M'diaii beloiifis to the ' Fiiino-oiiralienne ' ract- (E.rj>f'r»'iu't', and we know of no writinp^ of his of that date ♦'\ce])t the tract aln-jidy vv\ iewed : and this opinion does not apju-ar to b*' >tat»d thrre.

- (*'f. J. li. A. S. XV. (>:'> ; if. Weisl)ach, j.. 49.